Front Tube Bumper Build

So my friend and I started putting together a front tube bumper for my truck today. It's almost completely finished except for the mounts and paint. This is my first attempt at building anything like this. My friend has built a roof rack & tailgate/tire carrier for his F-250 and they came out pretty good. Just wanted to share my progress and get some opinions.

I think it looks pretty good. The pictures are of it mocked up with clamps holding it in place. Once I get the mounts drilled out & lined up we'll weld it to the mounts and get it painted.

 

looks like a damage multiplier.

 

Nice work, i like it.

 

For me? or what I hit?

Thanks!

 

what size material did you use?

 

Looks like 1.25

 

Really? It looks like 1".

 

We used 1.0 13 gauge tubing.

 

Nice work, I'll always give props to home building your own design vs. bolt on any day.

But just be careful - that's pretty much just a cosmetic bumper. Thin tube with that little structural support will bend right very easily. You're probably going to have problems with it shaking, especially when you put lights on it.

I'm wrapping up my own bumper builds as well:

 

Nice work!!

This is not really meant to fend off damage or anything, more of a brush guard really. I really made it so I could mount some lights in front of the grille. I only intended to make a simple bar, but we thought it would be better to add some curves and accents too.

 

Props for effort man! Better then I could do!

 

It's probably going to shake like crazy offroad with lights on it.

If you take some 1/8'' x 2'' strips of steel, you could run them from the tube you have your light tabs on, between the grill and the upper bumper, and find a point to secure them to; giving yourself a vital second point of contact for stability.

Let me find you a picture of what I'm talking about, I had a light bar on my truck a few years ago.

Here's the picture. You can see the two tube supports come out from the lower grill, what you don't see all that well are the two straps that run from the top of the main tube between the grill and the bumper. Those are what you need; hopefully this helps.

 

Thanks!!

I know it's not anywhere close to perfect, but I'm happy with it so far.

 

We thought about that too.

Do I need to remove the lower grille for better access?

 

The front bumper bar (factory bumper) bolts to the frame/radiator support right behind there. I was thinking of adding more support in that area, but wasn't sure how to do it.

 

Nevermind, see below

 

Yeah that's pretty thin, with some more support it should work as a sturdy light bar.

 

Give me a second and I will Paint-CAD up some ideas for you.

 

Thanks!!!

 

I think if you do a second build up maybe go with a thicker bar to give it a more meaty look and throw some lights on after paint and it will be a winner. Damn good job on doing it yourself too.